


Last Man Standing

by Ineffabilitea



Category: Harry Potter - Rowling
Genre: Angst, Canonical Character Death, Community: blanketforts, F/M, Future Fic, Gen, M/M, Noncanonical Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-01-23
Updated: 2006-01-23
Packaged: 2017-10-08 22:29:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/80141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ineffabilitea/pseuds/Ineffabilitea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Remus is the last one to remember.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Last Man Standing

**Author's Note:**

> Written for **blanketforts** 2006 [nineteenth prompt](http://community.livejournal.com/blanketforts/96611.html#cutid1).

It was odd. Remus was used to being the only one left; he was used to it after Sirius was sent to Azkaban, grew accustomed to it once again when Sirius died. (Peter is dead too, but Remus never really resurrected him, in his mind, so he hasn't counted for even longer than Sirius.)

Then again, after Tonks (he had tried calling her Dora, asked her what kind of a name 'Tonks Lupin' was meant to be, but she would have none of it, claimed she never knew who he was talking to when he called her 'Dora'. 'Not even when I'm making love to you?' he had tried to tease, which he remembered now had led to one of their more memorable fights. It seemed she had been saving up the one time he had called her neither 'Tonks' nor 'Dora', but 'Sirius' for just the right opening) died, he had been definitively alone, had meant to stay so, and he had.

But here he was, at Minerva McGonagall's funeral, suddenly the elder statesman of what used to be the Order of the Phoenix and was now, he supposed, a sort of extended family. Well, Hagrid was older than him, of course, but no one would ever cast Hagrid in an 'older and wiser' role.

Werewolves weren't supposed to live this long, let alone outlive nearly everyone they had ever cared about. Who would have thought? Except Tonks, of course. It had been something of a shock when she had told him about the shortened life expectancies of Metamorphmagi. One more reason she was drawn to him, he guessed.

Ron and Hermione's numerous brood, Harry and Ginny's children, _they_ seem to consider him some sort of constant. They can't remember a time when he wasn't around, so he supposes it's natural, but it still seems odd to him. The moon is fickle, ever-changing; if anyone should have been eternal, it was Sirius, the brightest star in the firmament, one who would guide them all home.

Not that he and Sirius really expected it could last, after Azkaban, though he suspects they each had different reasons for thinking so. Of course, you didn't need an 'O' in Divination to foresee that a happy ending for an Azkaban escapee and a werewolf would only happen in dreams. But they never said it aloud.

The littlest ones, the grandchildren- sometimes it saddens him, how little they know of Sirius. Sirius was cleared, eventually, but he never really made it onto the 'A' list of heroes. Remus doubts he's even part of the History of Magic curriculum, these days. He supposes he could petition the Headmaster about it, but as in so many other areas, Draco has taken up Snape's mantle when it comes to cutting remarks about him and Sirius, so perhaps it's best to let sleeping dogs- and dragons- lie. He knows Harry hasn't forgotten his godfather, _never_, but Harry doesn't like to talk about the past much, not even the parts that really only he knows.

Remus could tell them about Sirius himself, he knows, but the few times he's tried to begin, he has simultaneously too much and too little to say, and the words catch in his throat. Perhaps it is for the best, this; their ignorance like a blanket of new fallen snow, covering the whole world with a fresh start, the children need never know about that man, so infuriating and intoxicating, who is so entirely entwined with Remus' life even now.


End file.
